CHESTER - Neighbors and community leaders are preparing for a candlelight vigil tonight at the scene of a multiple shooting Friday night that left one youth dead and eight others shot.

Police said a suspect is in custody but no further information was available at this time.

At 11:27 p.m., police responded to the call of a shooting victim at Fourth and Ward streets, where a teen party was underway at the Minaret Temple No. 174.

Early reports indicated shots were fired inside the hall and the ages of the victims ranged from 15 to 20 years old.

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Police said the nine victims were transported to Crozer-Chester Medical Center. In addition to the fatality, two were listed in critical condition and six were in stable condition.

No information has yet been released about the identity of the victims. The Delaware County Medical Examiner's Office planned to release details on the fatal victim later.

Today, various debris was spotted on the outskirts of the temple's property, including some clothing such as a black sock, a red and blue shirt, a black Air shoe and a few water bottles.

A man who stood a block away from the temple who declined to give his name said he was home when the mayhem occurred.

"I was sitting on the couch," the three-year neighborhood resident said. "All I heard was shots. I just heard the shooting. There was a series of them."

Earlier today, the man was looking at the cracked windshield of his wife's car and said the crack hadn't been there Friday afternoon.

A candlelight vigil is planned for 6 p.m. tonight.

The crime scene is a few blocks away from PPL Park, where the Philadelphia Union will play their second home game against the New York Red Bull at 7 tonight.

This death marks the fourth homicide in Delaware County this year and the second in Chester. On Feb. 26, Edward Ware, 30, was gunned down around 7 p.m. in the 2700 block of W. Fourth Street.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Chester police detectives at 610-447-7908.

Last summer, Mayor Wendell Butler declared a state of emergency and a 9 p.m. curfew was imposed in problem areas after a rash of shootings left four people dead in eight days, including a 2-year-old boy. Just last weekend a service was held for little Terrance Webster, whose murder remains unsolved.

The city ended up with two dozen homicides last year, a 60 percent increase over the previous year and four short of the all-time high number in 1993.

Police believe the illegal drug trade was the source of much of the violence, while others have blamed easy access to firearms.

The mayor has said the cause of the surge in violence could be summed up in one word: retaliation.

"There may be a group of individuals who, unfortunately, one of their friends is murdered ... and those folks think they have to retaliate," Butler told the Daily Times at the end of last year.

Butler said in his "State of the City" address at the end of last month that the state of emergency and an anti-violence campaign helped stem the bloodshed and prompted an increase in residents providing information to police.

He touted a decrease in crime this year and a pilot project to install a new set of surveillance cameras in areas of high crime this summer.